


The Girl and the Garden Wall

by Lady_Therion



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-08-28 13:32:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8447833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Therion/pseuds/Lady_Therion
Summary: Where Jane and Loki meet as young children...





	1. A Face in the Window

**Author's Note:**

> I based this story off a Sabrina!AU prompt that I saw floating around the Tumblrverse and thought I could take a lil' stab at it. The timeline might be a little wonky, but you can assume that Jane is about eleven, Loki about twelve and Thor about fourteen.

* * *

 

 

The drive up to Odinhouse is long, boring and wet.

 

Jane is only half-awake by the time Erik reaches the gate.

 

“All right, Janie?”

 

She nods, but says nothing. In fact, she hasn’t said a single word since her mom and dad’s funeral three days ago. Luckily, Erik doesn’t seem to mind...he doesn’t push, he doesn’t prod, he doesn’t ask her stupid questions. Instead he gives her space and the occasional chocolate bar.

 

Jane likes that about him.

 

The gate creaks open a moment later. As their car lurches along the gravel path, Jane rolls down her window to look at the estate. She once heard a rumor that Stanley Kubrick wanted to use it to film _The Shining._ Up close, she can see why: it’s old and dark and ugly and nothing at all like the photos in the brochure.

 

“I remember when I first saw it,” says Erik. He started working for the Odinsons once he got into grad school. “Pretty creepy, huh? Don’t worry, we won’t be living there.”

 

It turns out they’d be living in the carriage house right behind it.

 

“The second floor above the garage is all ours,” says Erik, as he hauls her suitcase through the back door. “Unlike the main house, it’s pretty modern. We even have dial up.” She follows him as he leads her down a narrow hallway. “This is your room.”  

 

Jane cautiously steps inside.

 

It’s not at all like her bedroom back home: it’s open and airy and everything smells like pinewood. A rack of bull horns looms over the bed, which lay right next to a small desk and a painting of some green Norwegian valley. Against the far wall is an open bay window and a Celestron telescope.

 

She looks at Erik with wide eyes.

 

“It’s all yours,” he says. “You can thank Mrs. Odinson for that. She asked if there was anything in particular you might need to make you feel more at home. I know you had to leave most of your parents’ things behind, so…”

 

Jane is not a huggy kid, but she hugs him tight regardless. She presses her face into his shirt and feels a deep shudder go through her.

 

“Oh Janie,” he says, awkwardly patting her hair. They stay like that for a few more moments before Erik leaves her to settle in.

 

Later that night, when she looks up into the sky to chart Orion and Lepus and Canis Minor, she decides to turn her gaze towards Odinhouse...just for a moment, just out of curiosity.

 

She doesn’t mean to _spy_ , but she knows absolutely nothing about the Odinsons except for the fact that they are apparently rich enough to buy complete strangers expensive equipment.

 

As she re-focuses her lens, she sees a quick blur of movement in one of the windows.

  
A pale face with eyes that are just as sad as her own.


	2. The Boy in the Woods

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A special thanks to CallieSand, who said the right words at the right time :)

* * *

 

 

Jane has good days and bad days.

 

On bad days, she buries herself beneath the blankets and spends the next several hours trying to thaw out the numbness inside her: the big, blank space where her thoughts and feelings were supposed to be. On those days, Erik would stop by her room with a tray of food and refuse to leave until she ate every bite.

 

On good days, she would roll out of bed and make it as far as the kitchen to fix her own meals. Sometimes Erik is there. Sometimes he’s not. In between his classes at uni, Erik would drive the Odinsons to their appointments and errands. After which, he would come home pretty late.

 

Today is one of those days. Jane knows because he’s left her a note:  

 

_Will be back around 8! Leftovers are in the fridge. Head’s up: I’ll be calling every couple of hours just to bug you. See you later tonight :)_

 

Jane likes that Erik cares about her. Even when it gets annoying, it’s still nice to have _someone_ look after her.  

 

But yeah, today is a _really_ good day. Jane knows because she can actually go through the motions of being human; of having breakfast, taking a shower and brushing her hair. In the end, she decides she looks clean and decent enough to venture outside while the sun is out.

 

“Outside” is still uncharted territory: an entire foreign country she has yet to fully absorb. While the thought of being surrounded by the unfamiliar terrifies her, the confines of the carriage house and its layers of stale air and boredom terrify her even more.

 

She glances at the clock, which tells her that it’s a little before noon. She could make it back before Erik called.

 

*******

 

Jane brings all the essentials: map, flashlight, a bottle of water, a peanut butter sandwich and a field journal to take notes in. Her dad never left the house without _his_ field journal.

 

Her destination isn’t far: she’s marked it down with a big red “X.” All she has to do is follow a trail that winds its way through the woods that separate the carriage house from the main estate.

 

All around her is crisp air, red leaves and the smell of smoke and pine needles. The weather is cold enough for her to see little puffs of her breath. In the distance, where there are clearings, she can also see the outline of a wide, blue mountain range.

 

As she gets closer, she thinks of her mom’s favorite song...

 

_And when I awoke_

_I was alone_

_This bird has flown_

 

_So I lit a fire_

_Isn’t it good?_

_Norwegian wood_

 

Jane isn’t sure what to think about heaven or hell or what really happens after a person dies. But she’d like to believe, just for a moment, that her mom is with her, holding her hand, humming off-key, while her dad walks ahead of them snapping pictures with his Kodak.

 

She realizes that this is the first time she can think about her parents without feeling like she was falling off a cliff. The moment is short-lived, however, when she trips over a wire and is suddenly whooshed into the air.

 

She is breathless and sputtering and not all dignified. Her limbs are all squished together inside a net that has barely enough room to flail. Everything is sideways and spinning and a _very_ real panic starts setting in when she hears footsteps from somewhere below her.

 

“ _You’re_ not Fandral.”

 

She looks down to see a pale boy with slick, dark hair and a look on his face that is _not at all_ sorry for snaring an actual _person_ in a _net_.

 

“I don’t know what a Fandral is,” says Jane, “But you _better_ get me out of here! Now!”

 

He cocks his head to the side. “Why should I?”

 

Jane would have hit him if she could, instead she spits out curses that make him laugh.

 

“Come on,” he says, crossing his arms. “You can do better than that.” When she curses at him again, his grin only gets wider. “All of you have to do is say ‘please’.”

 

“You’re such a jerk!”

 

He sighs. “And _you’re_ starting to bore me.”

 

Jane’s too angry to say anything else, but when he starts walking away she grits her teeth and spits out, “Fine! Will you cut me down, _please_?”

 

He turns around and rests his hands on his hips.

 

“All right,” he says, all smug and sure. “Since you asked so nicely.”  

 

He disappears from her field of vision and there are few long minutes where nothing else happens. Just as she is about to yell at him again, she hears the sound of a wire snapping.

 

The drop to the ground below is short and ungraceful.

 

Jane spits out a few dirty leaves.

 

A hand drifts down toward her face.

 

“Hello,” says the boy, his green eyes promising nothing but trouble. “My name is Loki. And you are?”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments feed the author :)


	3. An 'X' on the Map

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your patience! I recently took on a new job over the holidays, which has put a damper on my writing schedule. Now that things have (somewhat) settled, I’m hoping to update my works-in-progress more regularly :)

* * *

 

Jane doesn’t shake Loki’s hand.

 

Instead she staggers to her feet and brushes the dirt from her jeans. She fixes him with her most withering glare...which only makes his smile more shameless.

 

 _Jerk_ , she thinks uncharitably. _This is all a big joke to him._

 

She gestures to the fallen net. “Were you actually going to use this on someone?”

 

Loki grins. “Why? Are you going to tell?”

 

She wants to say something clever and scathing, something that would make him cower and yield. But Jane has never been good with words, so she settles for an observation (her parents were scientists, after all). “You are _so_ weird.”

 

He pouts. “I was just trying to help,” he says, sounding wounded.

 

Of course Jane doesn’t buy it, but she gives him a grudging reply. “Thanks, I guess.” The words hang awkwardly in the autumn sunlight until a cold breeze sweeps them away. “Well...see you around.” Though secretly, she hopes she doesn’t.

 

Without further preamble, she adjusts the straps of her backpack and begins the task of putting as much distance between her and Loki as possible.

 

She makes it for about five minutes.

 

“You never told me your name,” says Loki, popping up at her side out of the blue. _Where the heck did he come from? I didn’t even hear him!_ “You didn’t even tell me where you were going.”

 

“I don’t really see how that’s any of your business.”

 

“I could help you, you know. Besides, I’ve told you my name,” he says, as though it were a huge favor. “The least you can do is give me yours.”

 

She groans. “ _Why_ are you following me?” Then she stops and turns to him. “Don’t you have any _actual_ friends you could bother?”

 

The look that flits across Loki’s pale face lasts for about a second—maybe even less than that—but it’s long enough for Jane to pick up on. She recognizes that look. It’s the same look she gave her parents whenever they asked who to invite to her birthday or if she wanted to have a sleepover.

 

_It’s the look I saw that night in the window..._

 

Since kindergarten, Jane had been praised as “gifted” in many subjects...but making friends was not one of them. She was curious about everything; had wanted to gather answers in the way that other children gather toys.

 

Needless to say, it didn’t make her popular.

 

It’s because of this that she decides to spare him the embarrassment (little did she know, it would be _this_ act of mercy that would change her life forever).

 

“My name is Jane,” she says. “I just moved here. I live in the carriage house.” She reaches into her backpack and unfolds a map between them. “I was looking for an observatory.” She points to the red X. “The brochure said that it’s in one of the public gardens near the estate.” She looks up at him (it’s a long way, he’s _tall_ ). “That’s where I was going.”   

 

His expression brightens.

 

“If that’s where you’re going, then _I_ know a better way.”

 

Jane struggles to keep her eyes from rolling at the smugness and certainty of his voice.

 

_What have I gotten myself into?_

 

“Is it faster?” she says, thinking of Erik. She needed to make it back to the house in time in case he called. She was already pushing her luck enough as it is, thanks to Loki’s shenanigans.

 

He smirks, taking her question as a challenge. “Here. I’ll show you!”

 

Then he grabs her hand and hurries her along, winding his fingers tightly through hers.

 

They are surprisingly strong and warm.

  
Jane is thankful that Loki can’t see the her face, which is now flushed for a reason other than anger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments feed the author :)


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